ELKINS, W.Va. — The Randolph County Board of Education has learned they will be the target of a State of Emergency declaration when the West Virginia Board of Education meets next week in Charleston. Correspondence from the state department was read at the local board’s meeting in Elkins Tuesday night. Superintendent Shawn Dilly said so far, it’s unclear exactly what the letter means, but it was largely to give the board a “heads up.”
“Today was really just notifying us so that we would be aware and not caught off guard that Randolph County was appearing on the state board agenda,” said Dilly.
Dilly cautioned School Board President Rachel Anger about referring to the move as a “takeover.” Dilly said while he has a considerable experience navigating troubled school system, this is a first for him.
“The way I understand it is there is an expectation of forming a basic plan and then a six month period of improvement. I’m hoping for some additional guidance because I’ll be honest I have a lot of experience, but I’ve never gone down the path of a state of emergency,” he told the school board.
Earlier this year the Randolph County school board voted down the closure and consolidation of Harman and Pickens Schools, the two smallest schools in the state of West Virginia. Both are very remote schools and would require long bus rides for students to be transported to other existing schools. Local residents were adamantly against any closure of their community schools.
Local Board Member Philip Chua said although it was quicker than he expected, he wasn’t at all surprised at the state Department of Education’s action.
“These wheels were set in motion when we voted on the consolidation of Harman and Pickens. This was a foregone conclusion at that time, I knew that when I cast the vote,” he explained.
However, Chua further explained he believed if they had voted to close those schools they probably would have gotten the same letter three years later and in a deeper mess. Chua said the school system is in a difficult spot with no good options.
“Unfortunately because of the drop of the number of kids in this county with the Hope Scholarship draw and we have so many buildings, we’re building heavy, we’re location heavy and we’re very spread out. We’re in a terrible situation,” he said.
The state Board of Education meets in Charleston next week and according to the letter the state Department of Education will recommended to the state board to declare a State of Emergency in the Randolph County Schools.